No items found.
Congratulations to the 2026 TULSAA Alumni Award Recipients! Thank you to everyone who submitted nominations for the 2026 TULSAA Alumni Awards. We are grateful for the time, care, and diligence shown by our nominators throughout this process.
We look forward to recognizing this year’s award recipients at the TULSAA and ULS Community Happy Hours held in conjunction with the Bicentennial Spring and Fall Convocations. The Bicentennial Spring Convocation Happy Hour will take place on Wednesday, May 6, from 5:30–7:30 p.m. in the Refectory on the Gettysburg campus. The Bicentennial Fall Convocation Happy Hour is set for Wednesday, September 16, from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. in the Benbow area of the Brossman Center on the Philadelphia campus. Alumni/ae award presentations will be shared with recipients on the campus each recipient chooses.
Celebrated Lifetime Ministries
The Rev. Karl Richard ’87 P
Called to Lead - Excellence in Parish Ministry|
The Rev. Patrick Downes ’02 P
Witness to the World – Excellence in Community Ministry
The Rev. Nelson Rabell-Gonzalez ‘02 P
Jamie Bruesehoff ’07 G
The Rev. Cean James ‘10P
Faithful Servant – Outstanding Recent Alumni Award
The Rev. John Deason ‘20
The Rev. Kayla Sadowy ’21
The Rev. Karl M. Richard (he/him), MDiv., LTSP, ‘87, is a lifelong Lutheran., and more importantly, follower of Jesus.
Baptized in the ULCA in Jerusalem (Lutheran Church, Schwenksville, PA), confirmed in the LCA, and ordained into the ministry of Word and Sacrament in July, 1987, in the last months of the LCA by the Bishop in Rome (NY, Upper New York Synod, LCA), he has served for 39 years in the ELCA. He has had three calls: Evangelical Lutheran, Poestenkill, NY, (Upstate NY Synod), St. Paul’s Lutheran, Applebachsville, PA (SEPA Synod), and since January 2008, St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Springfield, PA (SEPA Synod). He has also served, as vice pastor, the former St. Paul’s, Lutheran, Rensselaer, NY, St. Stephen’s Lutheran, East Schodack, NY, and the former Evangelical Lutheran, Raymertown, NY.
In broader church service, Pr. Richard has been a regular participant, and held offices in various cooperative ministries, including the Rensselaer County Lutheran Cooperative Ministry (a cooperative effort of the then 10 Lutheran congregations in Rensselaer County, NY), the Sand Lake (NY) Ecumenical Ministerium, The Quakertown (PA) Area Lutheran Churches, the Ministerium of the Christian Churches of Quakertown (PA), and the Springfield (PA) Ecumenical Ministerium.
He has attended four ELCA Youth Gatherings, (New Orleans, 2012, Detroit, 2015, Houston, 2018, New Orleans, 2024) taking a total of 28 youth to these life-changing events. And he has been a supervisor to three candidates for ministry, Deacon Laura Gorton, Deacon Sister Paula Estornell, and Pastor Daniel Smith.
He also served two terms as Dean of the Upper Bucks Conference of the SEPA Synod; 7 years on the LTSP Alumni Board, serving on the Finance Team; 5 years on the SEPA Synod Council, 2 as Chair of the Finance Committee; and 11 years as Secretary of the SEPA Synod (his twelfth year and third term concludes in May of 2027). He has also had the honor of serving for 3 months as the Acting Bishop of the SEPA Synod during Bishop Patricia Davenport’s sabbatical.
Pr. Richard loves studying and teaching scripture, leading worship, and finding ways to tell the old, old story to new generations of people who may, or may not, have heard of Jesus and his love.
His commitment to the Church has always been to encourage pastors and congregations to work collegially, as this ministry is too much for one to do alone, just as the message is not meant for individuals alone. In the words of St.Paul, “To each has been given a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good,” and “Now you (plural) are the Body of Christ, and individually members of it.”
Pr. Richard is married to the Rev. Leslie McCarty Richard, MDiv., LTSP ’89, and has two adult children, Jupiter Richard and Abigail (Richard) DeMusis, who are active participants in Lutheran congregations.
Pr. Richard is truly honored to be the recipient of this Celebrated Lifetime Ministry Award and expresses his thanks to the Rev. Daniel Smith for the nomination. He continues to be grateful for the opportunity to serve Jesus and His Church as a pastor and looks forward to the ways in which the Spirit may continue to move in his life and ongoing service to our Lord.
The Rev. Daniel Smith, ‘18P shared, “No one I've ever encountered embodies the ideal of "servant of the Church" more than the Rev. Karl Richard. By the time I met him in 2016 and became St. Matthew Springfield's seminarian intern, he had already spent decades in faithful parish ministry in upstate New York and in Pennsylvania. In my three years with him and the congregation of St. Matthew, I was continuously impressed by his great commitment to the Church and God's people. I was daily grateful for his patience, compassion, and mentorship toward me. Over the last decade, in his vocations as parish pastor, synod secretary, and leader of the Springfield community, I have witnessed his dedication to the Church and to people in need again and again. He would be a worthy recipient for the "Celebrated Lifetime Ministries" alumni award, and I am honored to nominate him.”
Pastor Smith reflected, “Pr. Karl has encouraged and given guidance to several LTSP and ULS students as interns and field education students. He has been a wonderful mentor to me, among others. He is a proud and devoted alumnus of LTSP, continuing to attend events and activities there when he is able.”
The Rev. Patrick Downes was born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in Wilmington, Delaware. He is a cum laude graduate of: St. Elizabeth High School, the University of Delaware, Widener University School of Law, and the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. Patrick was ordained in 2002 and has served at St. Philip’s Lutheran Church, in Wilmington, DE as Senior Pastor since that time. In the community, he has served on the founding board of directors of Family Promise® of Northern New Castle County; he serves as a Circle of Care Leader for Resettling International Refugees; and is an active part of Water is Life Kenya which works to provide clean water to people in Inkisanjani, Kenya. He is passionate about outreach to impoverished areas and peoples both in the United States and Internationally. In his spare time, he enjoys Philadelphia Phillies baseball, hiking out west, working out at the gym, homebrewing beer, playing guitar, driving his convertible roadster, and riding his motorcycle. Patrick lives in Wilmington with his wife of 32 years, Dawn - they have three adult children living each in Colorado, Pennsylvania, and in the bedroom next to them (until August).
Pastor Downes, ‘02P, was nominated by the Rev. Sue Loney, ‘17P. In her nomination Pastor Loney shared “nearly twenty-four years into ordained ministry, the Reverend Patrick V. Downes still serves his first call congregation, St. Philip’s Lutheran Church in Wilmington, DE. Over those years, St Philip’s transformed from a struggling congregation easily overlooked on a busy highway to a thriving congregation, with a variety of community-facing ministries, in a new building in a densely populated residential area. Patrick credits this change to engaging in the Spirit-led work of mission and vision. In making disciples, praising God, and serving the community, St. Philip’s understands its mission. With ethereal worship services, substantial adult education ministry rooted in small groups doing serious Bible study, robust youth and family programs, including regular youth group programming, women’s retreats, and the“famous” men’s motorcycle retreat, members build deep relationships with God and each other.”
Pastor Loney observed, “Patrick excels at pastoral care, tending to an aggressive schedule of regular visits, especially to those with serious health and mobility concerns. Patrick nurtures bonds of trust among his parishioners and the community, allowing him to show up and offer prayer and spiritual support at critical times and to help families navigate hard decisions. After leading St Philip’s through capital campaigns to construct and then improve the new church building, Patrick guided the congregation through an ambitious project to construct a well in a Kenyan community. “Summer of Service” projects regularly raise thousands of dollars for community ministries, including a neighboring food pantry. Patrick’s ministry in Wilmington continues to be a gospel-driven example of faithful service. Over the past 16 years, Patrick supervised 3 ELCA seminary interns, all of whom went on to serve the church as pastors:”
The Rev. Nelson Rabell-Gonzalez
The Reverend Nelson H. Rabell González, ’02 P, was born in Puerto Rico (1972). He has been an ordained minister of Word and Sacrament in the Lutheran Church since 2002. He has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering (1996) and worked as a Manufacturing Process Engineer at Motorola in Puerto Rico (1996-1998). He also holds a Master of Divinity (2002) and a Master of Sacred Theology in Biblical and Lutheran Studies (2007) from Philadelphia Lutheran Theological Seminary (now United Lutheran Seminary). He was instrumental in helping distribute $1.3 million in relief to essential undocumented migrant workers during the COVID 19 pandemic. As a faith leader, he serves the Spanish-speaking migrant community of Stockton and Lodi as a pastor and founder of Iglesia Luterana Santa María Peregrina Lutheran Church in Stockton, CA. He also serves part time as pastor of Saron Lutheran Church in Escalon, CA.
Iglesia Luterana Santa María Peregrina was founded in March 2022 as an independent Church by members of the Latino community in California. In September 2023 it was received as a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Pastor Rabell is part of the PICO California network, Clergy Emergency League, and works with several community organizations. Rev. Rabell co-founded A New Lodi, a 501c3 non-profit organization, whose mission is to amplify the voices of marginalized communities in the city of Lodi, CA. He is married to Dr. Fabiola Ramos, a dentist and public health expert. They are the proud parents of Hiram (25) and Sofia (23). The family dog is a Rescue Dog from Puerto Rico named Lucas.
Pastor Rabell-Gonzalez was nominated by Father Ryan Paetzold, ‘13P. Father Paetzold shared, “The Rev. Nelson Rabell has had a deeply impactful ministry in New Jersey and Lodi, CA. In New Jersey, he revitalized Apostles’-Corner Lutheran Church in Turnersville, transforming it from a struggling congregation into a thriving, outward-focused church addressing food insecurity and confronting racism. When a neighboring clergy member was harassed by a white supremacist, Pastor Rabell spoke out publicly in solidarity. His leadership also fostered new collaboration among Lutheran and ecumenical congregations, uniting communities in shared mission and justice.
After relocating to Lodi, CA, Pastor Rabell led a Latinx congregation that grew from a small community into a vibrant, established church. His ministry extended well beyond church walls—into the streets and fields—bringing God’s grace to those most often overlooked. Following the murder of George Floyd, Pastor Rabell became a key leader in the Movement for Black Lives while continuing advocacy with migrant workers facing heightened racial and economic injustice during the COVID pandemic. He co-founded a nonprofit amplifying BIPOC voices across the region.
As his work gained recognition and threatened systems of white supremacy, Pastor Rabell faced intense pressure to stay silent. He refused, standing firm in the prophetic call of his faith. Even when institutional forces attacked his livelihood, he remained steadfast—defending the vulnerable, challenging racism within church structures, and witnessing to God’s justice with courage and integrity."
Jamie Bruesehoff
Jamie Bruesehoff, ‘07G, (she/they) is an advocate, speaker, and writer. Rooted in her queer identity, her experiences raising a transgender child, and over twenty-five years working with youth and families, Jamie brings clarity, compassion, and hope to conversations often marked by fear and misinformation.
Jamie’s advocacy began at home, as she and her family navigated the realities of raising a young transgender child.That lived experience quickly evolved into a national commitment to education, storytelling, and equity. Jamie has spent the last decade equipping leaders across education, business, healthcare, and faith communities to create safer, more inclusive spaces for LGBTQIA people of all ages.
Jamie’s superpower is her warm, accessible style that invites honest questions while centering the dignity and humanity of the most vulnerable. She meets people where they are, inspiring and equipping them to move forward and create a world that more closely reflects the kingdom of God. She has worked with congregations, camps, youth ministry organizations, seminaries, colleges, faith-based nonprofits, and regional and national church bodies.
Jamie is the author of Raising Kids beyond the Binary: Celebrating God’s Transgender and Gender-Diverse Children. She proudly partners with her adult daughter to advance understanding through speaking, education, and media appearances. Her family and their work have been featured by NPR, PBS NewsHour, Good Morning America, EducationWeek, Parents, Disney, Marvel, USA Today, The Trevor Project, GLAAD, the Human Rights Campaign, and more. She is a graduate of Gettysburg College and the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, now United Lutheran Seminary.
Jamie lives with her spouse and three children in New Jersey. Deacon Chelle Huth, ‘04G, nominated her. Deacon Chelle observes, “Jamie has worked to build inclusiveness in the church, community and at the statewide and national legislative levels for LGBTQIA+. She has been an active speaker, teacher, presenter and advocate for many years. Jamie seeks to help others learn the inclusiveness of the kingdom of God for all people through education and theological exploration of Biblical text. Her book: Raising Kids Beyond the Binary is an amazing resource for all folks who want to support and nurture LGBTQIA+ kids.”
The Rev. Cean James
The Reverend Cean James, ‘10P, is the Senior Pastor of Salt & Light, an interdenominational, intergenerational congregation worshiping and working in Southwest Philadelphia and Mt. Airy. One of the fastest growing churches in the nation, Salt & Light is a congregation of vibrant worship, extravagant welcome, passionate activism, and biblical teaching and preaching.
Rev. James completed his undergraduate studies at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University with a BS in biology and received his Master of Divinity from the Lutheran Theological Seminary of Philadelphia. Pastor James has also done doctoral work at Lancaster Theological Seminary.
At the beginning of 2026, Pastor James ended a 9-year period where he served the wider church as the Associate Conference Minister of Congregational Development for the Pennsylvania Southeast Conference, UCC. In 2023, after a mass shooting just blocks away from Salt & Light, Pastor James led a coalition of community organizations in developing Kingsessing Heals Community Resiliency Center; a federally funded, trauma informed resource center where local residences find a myriad of tested practices to help them cope and thrive in the face of gun violence. Additionally, Salt & Light offers hundreds of hours of free therapy and counseling through its ministry, Bethesda’s Pool. Bethesda’s Pool provides licensed therapists for individuals, couples, children, and youth, at no cost and is available to anyone from the community.
Pastor James has previously served on the board of trustees of United Lutheran Seminary and currently serves as the Vice-chair of the national board of the United Church of Christ.
Rev. James is married to the former Kesha Barton of Columbia, SC. Kesha, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, practices law in the public interest. They have been blessed with three sons, Clarence Milton, Jesse Joseph, and Cean Benjamin.
Minister Veronica Reynolds, ULS ’24, nominated Pastor Cean. She shares, “I have known Pastor Cean since 2016, during my initial interview for Seminary and the UTI Certificate Program. Recently retiring after serving 28 years in the United States Air Force, I looked for direction and found it at ULS. Pastor Cean served as my Ministry Preaching Professor in the certificate program and encouraged me to walk in the calling with boldness and confidence, to step out in faith and God would do the rest! His mentorship, leadership, and commitment to ULS staff and students was further evident as he faithfully served as lecturer and speaker for Preaching with Power; served as guest speaker for Black History Month's Martin Luther King Jr. sessions, and he participated in many ULS Chapel services during and after the Covid era.”
Minister Reynolds continues, “His example of clergy and exegetical preparation helped many of the Black Church concentration students use and interpret the Lectionary and Sundays and Seasons, thereby closing the gap that once existed between the denominations! I could always count on and depend on Pastor Cean to continue to ignite the fire in us as he championed many civil rights and social justice initiatives locally and globally. His presence and commitment go without saying, and I wholeheartedly recommend him for this Witness to the World – Excellence in Community Ministry Award."
The Rev. John Deason
The Rev. John Deason, M.Div.’20, serves as Rector of The Church of the Holy Apostles and St. Stephen (Lutheran/Episcopal) in Baltimore, where he has served since 2019, and as the Associate for Congregational Vitality at the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland since 2025. A Detroit native, Pastor John spent the first chapter of his professional life in sales, marketing, and management within the automotive service industry in Michigan and Ontario. During that time he completed a B.A. in Business Management, with a concentration in marketing and management and met his spouse, with whom he is raising two daughters.
Although raised in a family of faith, Pastor John’s call to ministry emerged later in life. After stepping into an Episcopal church in suburban Detroit in his early thirties, he experienced a renewed spiritual tug that ultimately brought him and his spouse to Baltimore. In Southeast Baltimore, he joined a collaborative church‑planting effort between the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland and the Delaware‑Maryland Synod of the ELCA, known as Church on the Square. Pastor John served as part of the founding team and through this work, his call to pastoral ministry became clear.
Pastor John completed his Master of Divinity at United Lutheran Seminary; he was ordained in the Delaware-Maryland synod in the fall of 2020 in a parking lot due to the covid pandemic. His formation at ULS played a pivotal role in shaping his pastoral identity, deepening his theological grounding, and strengthening his commitment to cooperative, community-rooted ministry.
Deeply passionate about helping people connect faith with daily life, Pastor John believes that Christian community should be a place where all gifts are honored and where we become stronger together than we could ever be alone.
Mr. Jeff Tsai, ‘87P, nominated Pastor Deason. Tsai observed, “For the past six-and-a-half years, Pastor John Deason has been a source of stability and care at The Church of the Holy Apostles and Saint Stephen, a Lutheran-Episcopal congregation in Arbutus, Maryland. Pastor John began serving The Churches of Holy Apostles and Saint Stephen as an intern while the merger between The Church of the Holy Apostles, an Episcopal congregation, and Saint Stephen Lutheran Church was still in progress. When the presumed rector of the newly-merged congregation took a call elsewhere, the people of Holy Apostles and Saint Stephen called John Deason to serve as the first pastor of The Church of the Holy Apostles and Saint Stephen and to settle substantial uncertainty. Pastor John was ordained in September 2020 by Bishop Bill Gohl, Jr. and by Bishop Eugene Sutton on the church parking lot.”
Mr. Tsai continued, “While serving as the pastor of the merged congregation during a pandemic, Pastor John carefully balanced Episcopal and Lutheran traditions in worship while encouraging congregants to participate in the church’s ministries and to see themselves as having both denominational identities. Pastor John also served on the congregational vitality committees of both the Lutheran and Episcopal judicatories. In addition, he has been guiding the congregation through a discernment process that could lead to the construction of workforce housing on part of the church property. With Pastor John’s encouragement and guidance, a congregant with Episcopal roots is now a council member of the ELCA’s Delaware-Maryland Synod and a congregant with Lutheran roots is now an aspirant for holy orders in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland. “
The Rev. Kayla Sadowy
The Rev. Kayla Sadowy, ’21, MMT, MT-BC is currently called to serve Grace Lutheran Church in Broomall, PA. Starting as an intern in 2020, Kayla was brought to Grace to help redevelop the congregation. Amongst many changes and adaptations, perhaps the most impactful has been a new ministry of The Wellness Center. This is a network of community partnerships offering mental health services, community support groups, cooking classes, dance and fitness classes, reiki, and more. Such a ministry was inspired by the Holy Spirit, cultivated by the congregation as well as its friends and neighbors, and fueled by Kayla’s passion for holistic health as an expression of discipleship.
As a music therapist, Kayla has worked most of her career in hospice care, bereavement, and cancer as clinician, researcher, program developer, and advocate. She has presented regionally and nationally on the intersections of spirituality, liberation psychology, and music therapy interventions.
In addition to her call at Grace, Kayla also serves on the SEPA Synod Vitality Team and SEPA Synod Staff as the Grant Evaluator for Love Revolution, a $1.2 million grant from the Lilly Foundation. Kayla holds a Bachelor of Music from Capital University, Master of Music Therapy from Temple University, and a Master of Divinity from United LutheranSeminary.
Nominator, the Rev. Eileen Ruppel-Doan ’22 reflects, “Pastor Kayla Sadowy has led her congregation, Grace Lutheran, Broomall, to make bold changes to the way they think about and do ministry.They made the difficult decision to close down their Nursery School and, in its place, open up the Wellness Center. In the four years since that ministry began, they have become a place of community connection providing needed services by building partnerships with wellness providers to make health and wellness more accessible and justice based. The Wellness Center now offers a variety of services, from mental health counseling to cooking classes, with many things in between and serving both children and adults. Pastor Kayla’s leadership of the congregation and this specialized ministry have become a model of what responding to the needs of a community can look like in creative ways. Her leadership has brought in new partnerships, including with my own congregation Reformation, and helped to create a position for dedicated leadership of the Wellness Center by another rostered leader.”
